Research & Development
Annual Report 2018

Inaugural Symposium on Railway Infrastructure and Engineering

The inaugural symposium saw more than 170 participants

UTAR Centre for Railway Infrastructure and Engineering (CRIE) organised the inaugural Symposium on Railway Infrastructure and Engineering on 24 January 2018 at the UTAR Sungai Long Campus.

Present at the symposium were UTAR President Ir Prof Academician Dato’ Dr Chuah Hean Teik, Serba Dinamik Group Berhad President Dato’ Dr Ir M. A. Karim Abdullah, Prasarana Malaysia Berhad President and Group Chief Executive Officer Masnizam Hisham, UTAR Vice President Prof Ir Dr Lee Sze Wei, UTAR Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Engineering and Science Dean Prof Ir Dr Goi Bok Min, and symposium Chair-cum-CRIE Chairperson Prof Dr Andy Chit Tan, as well as speakers from local and foreign universities, and the industry. The symposium saw more than 170 participants.

A MoU was signed among UTAR, Serba Dinamik Sdn Bhd and Luhang Rail Transportation Technology Co. Ltd by (from left) Prof Lin, Prof Chuah and Dato’ Abdul Karims

In conjunction with the symposium, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed among UTAR, Serba Dinamik Sdn Bhd and Luhang Rail Transportation Technology Co. Ltd, Changzhou, China to promote research, training, education and innovation in railway. The event also saw the launch of the new research centre, UTAR - Centre for Railway Infrastructure and Engineering, with its initial founding members, Southwest Jiaotong University, Serba Dinamik Sdn Bhd and Doshin Rubber Sdn Bhd.

Prof Andy remarked, “The one-day symposium was set to congregate practitioners, owners, operators, researchers and academics to share and promote research activities of the railway industry. It also aimed to support the new initiatives of expanding the rail network in Malaysia and China’s One Belt One Road initiative in the region. Besides, the symposium also served as a networking platform to encourage the exchange of ideas among researchers, universities, practitioners and owners from various expertise. Among the areas of expertise included railway infrastructures; safety and standards; operation safety, reliability and maintainability; social, environmental and economic issues; education and training; and transportation and optimisation of traffic control.”

On behalf of UTAR, Prof Chuah welcomed the guests and the participants. He said, “The spinoff of rail network expansion into education is expected to carry great momentum. With its expansion and educational opportunities, it is timely for the University to establish a research centre to promote interdisciplinary research in various areas such as railway infrastructure, engineering and socio-economics, education, training and services. I am glad that our initiative has been well received by the industry. I would like to thank the sponsors, exhibitors and supporters for your support and commitment. I would also like to urge the engineers who are also the consumers to contribute to the field of railway.”

Themed ‘Benefits and Sustainability of Railway’, the symposium encompassed two keynote addresses, two sessions of invited presentations and a forum.

From left: Dato’ Abdul Karim and Prasarana President Masnizam were the keynote speakers for the inaugural symposium

The first keynote speaker was Dato’ Abdul Karim who spoke on “Rail Traction Technology Getting Momentum in Malaysia”. He emphasised, “All the developments, constructions and maintenance activities in the rail industry will require governance by a central agency to address many issues. Hence, it is necessary for the Malaysian government, industry players and academics to work together to strengthen our capabilities and competitiveness in the rail technology and eco-system.”

On the other hand, the second keynote speaker, Prasarana President Masnizam spoke on “Pursuing Operations Excellence”. She highlighted on the milestones achieved by Prasarana since 2015 and some of the organisation’s present and future plans. She said, “In view of the many developments and projects that will be carried out in the foreseeable future, we need more talents to join the workforce and contribute to the field. Therefore, we need support from the universities to train more skilful graduates to help improve the operations of the whole system.”

The keynote addresses were followed by the first session of invited presentations. It was chaired by Assoc Prof Dr Rahizar Ramli from Universiti Malaya. It commenced with the speech by Luhang Rail Transportation Technology Co. Ltd Deputy General Manager Luo Wencheng on behalf of Southwest Jiaotong University Traction Power State Key Laboratory and Changzhou Institute of Rail Transport Director Prof Lin Jianhui on “Health Monitoring and Early Warning of High-speed Rail Based on Vibration and Temperature”. The subsequent speaker was Mass Rapid Transit Corporation Sdn Bhd GIS Manager Aswadi Yusof who spoke on “Building Information Modelling and Geographic Information System in Mega Construction Project – A Sharing from Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit Sungai Buloh-Serdang-Putrajaya Line Project”.

Chaired by Aswadi Yusof, the second session consisted of three presentations. It began with a lecture by the Director of The Smart Engineering Asset Management Laboratory and Croucher Optical Nondestructive Testing Laboratory, Prof Peter Tse Wei Tat. He spoke on “Novel Techniques in Guided Wave for Performing Quality Inspection on Building Pipes and Train Rails.” It was followed by Doshin Rubber Engineering Products (M) Sdn Bhd Dr Patrick Tiong who presented on behalf of his Director Or Tan Teng on “Rubber as an Excellent Engineering Material for Vibration and Seismic Control in Civil Engineering Structures”. Also speaking at the symposium was Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Institute of Noise and Vibration HiCoE Director Prof Mohd Salman Leong. He presented on “Noise and Vibration Environmental Impact in Malaysian Railway Schemes – Issues and Mitigation from Past and Current Lines”.

The symposium forum was chaired by Prof Andy, with the panel consisting of the invited speakers for a panel discussion. The symposium adjourned with closing remarks by Dato’ Abdul Karim. He said, “The symposium has provided a platform for the experts, researchers, government sectors, industry and academia to interact and keep them abreast of the latest information in this area. I hope the future symposium could be held at an international level to allow broader exchanges and learning opportunities.”

The forum was chaired by Prof Andy (middle) with the invited speakers

In view of China’s One Belt One Road initiative which encompasses South East Asia, Asia and nations all the way to Europe is already drawing enormous attention in the region and abroad. The connectivity and cooperation between those countries will be a major step forward in terms of trade, cultural and scientific exchanges in the new century. Meanwhile, in Malaysia, the government is embarking on this new initiative and is expanding its rail network throughout the country. The introduction of the first MRT line in the Klang Valley and the commencement of the East Coast Rail Link are examples of the Government’s plan to continue the improvement of the transportation network. Besides, agreements have been established to develop the high speed rail (HSR) from Singapore to Peninsular Malaysia.

As such, an opportunity arose for UTAR to establish a research centre to promote interdisciplinary research in railway infrastructure, engineering and socio-economics, and railway engineering related courses and services. It will serve the ongoing rail transport services in Malaysia as well as the new ECRL and MRT.

The inaugural Symposium on Railway Infrastructure and Engineering was supported by the Institute of Engineers, Malaysia (IEM) and Institute of Materials, Malaysia (IMM). It was sponsored by Serba Dinamik, Doshin Rubber and Getzner.

Report on MIDA National Supply Chain Conference on Rail Projects 2018
Date: 11 April 2018
Venue: Dewan Merdeka, Putra World Trade Centre

The one day conference started with a panel discussion consisting of Mr Yuslizar Daud of Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD), Dato Najmuddin Abdullah of MRT Corp, Ir Ahmad Nizam Mohd Amin of Prasarana, Mr Lokman Yahya of MyHSR and Mr Nor Rizan Mohd Akhir of MRL, moderated by Mr Ibrahim Sani. They each present their organization structures and opportunities. The keynote address by YB Dato Seri Ong Ka Chuan on behalf of the Prime Minister further reinforced the commitment by the government in various rail projects.

ECRL is in progress and the training for train operators and personnel is in progress in collaboration with Beijing Jiaotung University This is expected to carry cargo from the East Coast to Port Klang. A few universities are offering course related to railway engineering.

There were exhibitions from ECRL, MyHSR Corp and suppliers of rail related products.

The symposium of Safety and Health Inspection Systems for High Speed Rail and Metro Systems 2018 was held in 29 November, Thursday, 2018. The symposium is organized by the Centre for Systems Informatics Engineering (CSIE) of the City University of Hong Kong (CityU). The past symposia had attracted eminent academics, industry practitioners and research scientists from around the world. The ultimate goal of the symposium is to advance the body of knowledge in the safety and reliability for high-speed and urban trains, strengthen the link between industry practitioners, academia and technology providers, promote the development and application of research, and showcase state-of-the-art technologies.

The 2018 workshop had 13 invited speakers as listed in the one-day program (Table 1).

Technomart: Malaysian Rail Industry- Advancing Local Rail Partnership
Date: 17 – 19 December 2018,
Venue: Might, Jalan Impact, Cyberjaya.

The event was organised by the Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology (MIGHT). It is an organisation established by the Government in 1993 as a Not-for-Profit orgainsation to promote partnership between public and private sectors.

The core business of this organisation is consensus building think tank to harness technology for business, consultative platform building linkages through membership program, and nurturing high tech industries via necessary interventions. The President of the organistion is Datuk Dr Mohd Yusof Sulaiman and the committee is shown in Fig.1.

The event was opened by Prime Minister and attendance by several ministers. I have the opportunity to attend the technology showcases and seminar on 18 December. According to Statistics, global rail market round-up between 2015-2017 is EUR 163.2 Bn (RM773Bn) and is expected to grow at 2.7% worldwide from 2021-2023. The breakdown of the different sectors are shown in Fig.2.

International Conference on Sustainable Energy and Green Technology 2018
Date: 11 – 14 December 2018
Venue: Double Tree Hilton, Kuala Lumpur.

The 2018 conference is jointly organized by the research Centre on Railway Infrastructure and Engineering, UTAR and the Energy Research Centre, University of Malaya. The International Conference on Sustainable Energy and Green Technology 2018 (SEGT 2018) was held in conjunction with the 4th Energy Engineering Alliance Forum (EEAF 2018) in Kuala Lumpur. SEGT 2018 aimed to promote research in the field of sustainable energy, green technology, environment and climate change, and facilitate the exchange of new ideas in these fields among academicians, engineers, scientists and practitioners. The conference was held over a period of 3 days and consisted of a plenary, keynote & invited speeches, oral presentations & poster sessions on different topics. The conference attracted over 250 papers. Accepted full papers will be published in conference proceedings, and selected will be published in Int J of Hydrogen Energy, Int J of Energy Research, J of CSME and J of Adv Res in Fluid Mech and Thermal Science.

The International Conference on Sustainable Energy and Green Technology 2018 is co-organized by 10 universities across the Asian region (UM, UTAR, NIU, NCKU, BIT, QZU, TPUT, NDU, HKU and CITYU). Besides, there are local research centers (CES and SERI) and association (IET and ASHRAE) become the supporting institution for the conference. The conference has been received more than 370 participants from 20 countries over the world such as Thailand, Canada, Taiwan, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia, Hong Kong, China, India, Iran, Nigeria, Vietnam, Japan, Pakistan, UK, Bangladesh, Australia, Netherlands, Turkey, etc. There is 1 plenary speaker (Prof. Ibrahim Dincer from University of Ontario), 3 keynote speakers (Prof. Chen Wei-Hsin, Prof. Dennis Y. C. Leung and Prof. Michael K. H. Leung) and 4 invited speakers (Ir Chen, Dr. Alex Lee, Prof. Jin and Prof. Hans) from oversea and local attended the conference.

Staff involved –
Dr. Bernard Saw Lip Huat -Co-chair
Dr. Poon Hiew Mun - Scientific committee
Dr. Thiam Hui San - Scientific committee
Dr. Steven Lim - Scientific committee
Mr. King Yeong Jin - Technical committee